Qualla: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:04 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: Introduction https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park/ Photo credit Hogs555, CC BY-SA 3.0. Thirty-three minutes. That is how much sunlight reaches the deepest parts of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on some days -- barely enough time to eat lunch. The walls of Precambrian gneiss and schist, 1.7 billion years old, rise so steeply and press so close together that the gorge exists in near-permanent shadow. The Ute people, who knew this river long before Europeans arrived, called it "much rocks, big water" and stayed away. Author Duane Vandenbusche put it plainly: "Several canyons of the American West are longer and some are deeper, but none combines the depth, sheerness, narrowness, darkness, and dread of the Black Canyon."

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Image: Hogs555 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/9wg7-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: The Iron Horse Meets Its Match https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park/ Photo credit Falk Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1881, William Jackson Palmer's Denver and Rio Grande Railroad reached Gunnison from Denver, built to service the gold and silver mines of the San Juan Mountains. The rugged terrain forced Palmer to use narrow-gauge rail. Irish and Italian laborers spent over a year carving a r...

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Image: Falk Werner | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/9wg7-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-the-iron-horse-meets-its-match.mp3 0:06 2 full Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: Two Men, a Rubber Raft, and Ten Days https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park/ Photo credit NPS Photo, Public domain. In 1901, the U.S. Geological Survey sent Abraham Lincoln Fellows and William Torrence into the canyon to find a site for a water diversion tunnel to serve the parched Uncompahgre Valley. A previous expedition in September 1900, using wooden boats, had failed. Torrence, a Montrose...

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Image: NPS Photo | Public domain

]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/9wg7-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-two-men-a-rubber-raft-and-ten-days.mp3 0:06 3 full Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: Boring Through the Dark https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park/ Photo credit Hogs555, CC BY-SA 3.0. Construction on the Gunnison Tunnel began four years after Fellows and Torrence's expedition, and the difficulties started immediately. Workers contended with high carbon dioxide levels, extreme temperatures, humidity, water, mud, shale, sand, and a fractured fault zone. It took ...

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Image: Hogs555 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/9wg7-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-boring-through-the-dark.mp3 0:06 4 full Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: A Billion Years of Darkness https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park/ Photo credit Terry Foote, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Black Canyon's extreme geometry is the product of geologic forces spanning billions of years. The Precambrian gneiss and schist forming the canyon walls date to 1.7 billion years ago, created when volcanic island arcs collided with what is now southern Wyoming. Lighter-colore...

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Image: Terry Foote | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/9wg7-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-a-billion-years-of-darkness.mp3 0:06 5 full Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: Into the Park https://qualla.com/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park/ Photo credit Massimo Catarinella, CC BY-SA 3.0. Established as a national monument on March 2, 1933, the Black Canyon was redesignated a national park on October 21, 1999, incorporating 4,000 additional acres from the Bureau of Land Management. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the North Rim Road during 1933-35, including ...

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Image: Massimo Catarinella | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/g/7/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-wp/9wg7-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park-into-the-park.mp3 0:06 6 full